Shows / Deconstructing Comics
Deconstructing Comics
Deconstructing Comics is a podcast by and for comics creators — especially those who haven't hit their creative stride yet. Whether you've got a comic going and you're trying to promote it, or you haven't even started yet and need some help getting rolling, we hope you'll come here for inspiration and tips. And there's plenty of interest for non-creators, as well!
Episodes
Deconstructing ComicsCritiquing Comics #251: "Achille & Kipi: The Disconnected"
Achille & Kipi: The Disconnected is an Italian comic meant to raise issues about modern life and technology. In this episode, Tim and Jason take a stab at…
Deconstructing Comics#890 NOT Jack Kirby's "Black Panther": Oh, right! He's an Avenger!
Jack Kirby left Marvel with one issue of his Kiber storyline left to go. We don't know if he left notes on what was to happen, but in Black Panther #13, Jim…
Deconstructing Comics#420 Kupperman and Hanawalt: Our guides to the absurd
FLASHBACK! Michael Kupperman's Tales Designed to Thrizzle and Lisa Hanawalt's My Dirty Dumb Eyes are two books exhibiting bizarre humor and pointed takes on…
Deconstructing Comics#889 "The Human Remains"
Have you ever wondered what it's like to go to medical school, take apart cadavers, take exhaustive exams over anatomy, illnesses, and treatments, then become…
Deconstructing Comics#552 "Logan" (2017)
FLASHBACK! Kumar and Dana discuss Logan in what was, at the time, the first DCP movie review since Iron Man 2! Is Logan an action movie? The action scenes are…
Deconstructing Comics#888 Jack Kirby's "Black Panther": Faded to Kirby Dots
Jack Kirby's 1970s Black Panther series started out kind of strange, with King T'Challa wandering far from his kingdom for no apparent reason, but the latter…
Deconstructing Comics#887 "The Dissidents": A brutally relevant book
Derf Backderf's latest book is The Dissidents, focusing on a group of political cartoonists in the late 1910s who did powerful political cartoons in a…
Deconstructing Comics#886 LeUyen Pham and the magic of "As I Dream Of You"
If you think you've read a book like As I Dream of You before, you're probably wrong. Yes, it's about a romance between two teenagers, and yes, it turns…
Deconstructing ComicsCritiquing Comics #250: "Ra no Tabi"
Well, it was probably inevitable: we were sent a comic made with A.I. The human creator cops to using it for the art, but the story also as an A.I. feel. Is it…
Deconstructing Comics#885 A Slayer of 13 Demons & A Real Canadian Hero
This time we're rejoined by Adam Tierney, writer of Romeo and Juliet and Godzilla, as well as Italian artist Saspy. From opposite sides of the planet, they've…
Deconstructing Comics#884 Jack Kirby's Black Panther: Take THAT, George Lucas!
This week we finally return to Jack Kirby's 1970s run on Black Panther, specifically issues 9 and 10. With Panther away during a crisis, his four relatives…
Deconstructing Comics#883 Hulk smash! Hulk stomp! Hulk wear rubber Hulk mask!
Consider the Incredible Hulk. He's often referred to as the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the Marvel Universe. But is he really Jekyll and Hyde on a deep level?…
Deconstructing Comics#882 "Supergirl" vs. "Woman of Tomorrow"
This summer's Supergirl movie, while not nearly as good as sliced bread, was compelling enough to make Tim curious as to how it compares with the comic it's…
Deconstructing Comics#881 "Doomwar": Black Panther vs. Dr. Doom
Doomwar is a 2010 miniseries in which Dr. Doom sponsors a coup in Wakanda in order to get his hands on all the country's processed vibranium. As we continue to…
Deconstructing Comics#880 Interviews: Emil Wilson ("The Nightingales") and William Bernhardt ("The Superman Wars")
Emil Wilson is the author of the new graphic novel The Nightingales, about a family in 1985 who take in an AIDS patient. The book shows us the panic and…
Deconstructing Comics#879 Comics Satirize Comics: "DESTROY!" and "Doom Force"
Superhero comics have been parodied for as long as they've existed. This time Tim and Kumar look at two books by comics insiders that satirized the predominant…
Deconstructing Comics#878 Three fun graphic novels
A number of interesting graphic novels have been brought to our attention recently -- works with laugh-out-loud moments and deeper meanings as well. We review…
Deconstructing Comics#671 Derf's "Kent State"
FLASHBACK! In 1970, four students died when national guardsman inexplicably opened fire during an anti-war protest at Kent State University. The craziness of…
Deconstructing ComicsThe Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
While the characterization of Spidey in Amazing Spider-Man 2 is still spot-on, not much else in the movie is. Tim and Mulele discuss the myriad problems, and…
Deconstructing ComicsThe Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
After Sam Raimi bailed on doing any more Spidey movies, Sony decided to reboot. So, ten years after Spider-man 1, viewers got a new version of Spider-man's…
Deconstructing Comics#877 Jack Kirby's Black Panther #7-8: The Truth about Vibranium
The adventure in the Samurai City comes to a close, and Panther attempts to get back to Wakanda. As a vibranium-related crisis unfolds in his homeland, various…
Deconstructing Comics#876 Marjane Satrapi remembered
Persepolis author Marjane Satrapi passed away on June 4. This week, Tim and Kumar recall their initial reactions to that book and talk a bit about her life and…
Deconstructing Comics#471 "Crumb" and "Punk Rock Jesus"
(Concluding our review of past episodes featuring the work of R. Crumb.) FLASHBACK! Tim and Kumar meet in person for the first time! This calls for a podcast…
Deconstructing Comics#415 Crumb's Confounding "Genesis"
FLASHBACK! Perhaps one of the most puzzling comics releases in years was The Book of Genesis, Illustrated by R. Crumb. While it's a virtuoso art performance…
Deconstructing Comics#384 R. Crumb's "Weirdo" Years Revisited
FLASHBACK! Weirdo was a magazine started by R. Crumb, which featured Crumb's work alongside that of a number of other underground-type comics creators. Crumb's…
Deconstructing ComicsCritiquing Comics #249: "Westron"
Westron is about a private investigator who investigates crimes with supernatural elements. When a girl is murdered, he feels driven to solve the crime by the…
Deconstructing Comics#875 Swamp Thing in Spaaaaace
At last we complete our look at Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run, looking at Swampy's battle with Gotham City, his seeming death, and his travels through space…
Deconstructing Comics#874 Jack Kirby's Black Panther #5-6: The City of Samurai
Typical of the Jack Kirby comics we've read from the 1970s, the 1977 Black Panther series is a wild ride. Issues 5 and 6 feature a city of samurai (apparently…
Deconstructing Comics#873 Adam Tierney: Godzilla comes to Verona
Adam Tierney, writer of the recent hit one-shot Romeo and Juliet and Godzilla, is a video game writer who dabbles in comics as a hobby -- and it's looking like…
Deconstructing Comics#872 Steranko's "Nick Fury," pt 2: The argument in favor of Stan Lee editing
Jim Steranko's Nick Fury stories from the late 1960s are lauded for the artwork, especially in the stories after Fury got out of Strange Tales and into his own…
Deconstructing Comics#546 "The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye"
FLASHBACK! Why read a biography of a fictional comics artist? What if it's also a history of Singapore — done in a style that apes more than a dozen seminal…
Deconstructing Comics#871 Jack Kirby's Black Panther #3-4: A Time Machine, a Sweet Ride, and a Samurai
Black Panther continues his wild ride, courtesy of Jack Kirby -- but filling a role that could have been played by virtually any character. With Abner Little…
Deconstructing ComicsCritiquing Comics #248: "The Blossoming City" pt 1 and "Loon News: The Comic Strip!"
Ian M is a Japan-based Canadian creator whose work we've discussed on this podcast before. His work is often about Japan, but not necessarily about himself. In…
Deconstructing Comics#617 Swamp Thing meets the monsters
FLASHBACK! We continue our look at Alan Moore's 1980s run on Swamp Thing— a run in which the title character met werewolves and vampires (as Moore and co…
Deconstructing Comics#319 "The Maxx" (RIP Sam Kieth)
FLASHBACK! Even amidst the anything-goes craziness of the early Image years, Sam Kieth's The Maxx was an outlier. While it included some superhero tropes, it…
Deconstructing Comics#870 Steranko's "Nick Fury," pt 1: Spy or superhero?
Somehow it's taken us 20 years of podcasting to get to Jim Steranko's fabled run on Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. But is the early stuff really so fabled?…
Deconstructing Comics#325 Alan Moore's "Swamp Thing"
FLASHBACK! Due perhaps to the passage of time, poorly handled reprinting by DC, or some other reason, Alan Moore's writing stint on Swamp Thing in the 1980s…
Deconstructing Comics#869 Jack Kirby's Black Panther #1-2: A Ribbit-ing Time Travel Story
We begin our look at Jack Kirby's Black Panther series from the 1970s, introducing a new Kirby character who's a bit too similar to one who first appeared in…
Deconstructing Comics#868 "The Pass": Are you living the dream, or is the dream killing you?
Sometimes, achieving your dream can be kind of a nightmare, even though it's also rewarding. Claudia, in Katriona Chapman's latest graphic novel The Pass, has…
Deconstructing Comics#867 "Goodnight, Punpun"
Inio Asano's Goodnight Punpun gives us what appear to be a family of ghostly birds living in a much more realistic-looking world. People within that world…
Deconstructing Comics#866 Fantastic Four 53: Black Panther meets Klaw
After "hunting" the Fantastic Four, the Black Panther reveals that he did it for practice, as he anticipated a battle against his father's killer: Ulysses…
Deconstructing Comics#865 Harold Buchholz interview: Kids love comics!
At some point, the idea that some comics should be for adults took over to the extent that it became hard to find good comics for kids. Cartoonist Harold…
Deconstructing Comics#864 Black Panther Debuts
Sixty years ago, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby presided over the debut of the Black Panther in Fantastic Four #52. The story presents the expectations of the average…
Deconstructing Comics#863 Jimmy Gownley interview
Jimmy Gownley is the award-winning creator of Amelia Rules, Tanner Rocks, The Dumbest Idea Ever, and more, as well as a co-host of the Unpacking Peanuts…
Deconstructing Comics#627 Walt Simonson's "Thor"
FLASHBACK! One of the most acclaimed Marvel runs of the 1980s was by Walt Simonson on The Mighty Thor. He began writing and drawing it with #337, continued…
Deconstructing ComicsCritiquing Comics #247: "Lovers Quarrel" and "Digital Bardos" #2
A love triangle. One member feels jilted and goes off the deep end. A gun is involved. Tim and Adam talk about the thriller Lovers Quarrel by Rob Capili, Ikos…
Deconstructing Comics#862 "Poor Helpless Comics"
Ed Subitzky did a lot of cartooning for National Lampoon back in the '70s and '80s. Much of his work revolves around comics done under certain conditions or…
Deconstructing Comics#861 Jack Kirby's Captain America: Cap vs Magneto!
While it seems a bit odd to see Captain America fighting Magneto, they do have something in common: Jack Kirby had a hand in creating both! The battle takes…
Deconstructing Comics#372 "Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary": Painful Personal Memoir as Wacky Comedy!
FLASHBACK! Autobiographical comics are par for the course, but in 1972, Justin Green broke ground for the genre when he published Binky Brown Meets the Holy…
Deconstructing Comics#860 Chris Ryall on "Daredevil: Born Again"
Daredevil: Born Again, by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, is one of those comics stories that continues to attract attention decades after it was…
Deconstructing Comics#859 Jason Shiga: Choosing his own path
Jason Shiga is creator of the four-volume series Demon as well as many interactive comics. This week, Koom interviews Jason about his page layout strategy, his…
Deconstructing Comics#858 Celebrating 20 years by reviewing a 20-year-old film ("Superman Returns")
Our first episode was released on December 5, 2005. After 20 years of changes in focus, format, and personnel, as well as Tim self-teaching audio editing, this…
Deconstructing Comics#857 Carol Tyler's "The Ephemerata": Making sense of the worst of all possible stretches
Longtime comics creator Carol Tyler went through a horrific stretch in her life where she lost numerous loved ones, from her parents, to a neighbor, to her…
Deconstructing Comics#856 Jim Keefe interview
The November 16, 2025, Sally Forth strip, with Jim's color guides at the top. Note the appearance of Gregory and Janine from Abbot Elementary in the first…
Deconstructing Comics#855 Jack Kirby's "Captain America" 214 & Annual 3: Cap vs the Space Vampire!
Jack Kirby wraps up his run on Captain America and the Falcon with issue 214, the rather underwhelming conclusion of the Night Flyer story. But wait! Kirby…
Deconstructing Comics#410 Marvel Comics: Telling the Untold Story
FLASHBACK! If you're into American comics at all, you undoubtedly know how Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and others changed the industry with their work in…
Deconstructing ComicsCritiquing Comics #246: "Roy Beckwith and the Cursed Continent" and "A French Expat in the U.K."
Roy Beckwith and the Cursed Continent is a western series by Nick Patch, Jarret Katz, and Fabi Marques. It looks great but it runs at a breakneck pace and…
Deconstructing Comics#854 "Superman" (2025): Its commentary on other supermen
Last summer's Superman movie was a welcome improvement over many recent films featuring the character, and over much of the recent superhero film entries in…
Deconstructing Comics#853 The strange history of "Robotech"
What if your first Star Wars movie were Return of the Jedi? You'd have questions! That's how Tim felt once he got started reading Robotech II: The Sentinels…
Deconstructing Comics#369 "Krazy Kat": Show me the bricks
One of the most highly-regarded English-language strips of all time is George Herriman's Krazy Kat, featuring the odd love/hate triangle of Krazy, Ignatz, and…